Visão Fatal

Joseph Bottoms plays American Jonathan Ratcliff, living & working in Athens. His world is turned upside down when he suddenly losses his sight, but thankfully for him an electronic sonar device has just been invented which allows blind users to "see" (via very dated looking computer graphics) & he agrees to become the first person to try it. Meanwhile an unknown, gloved killer is murdering beautiful young women with a scalpel & it's only a matter of time before their paths cross. I'd never heard of this movie before, picked it up cheap on DVD from a charity shop, but once the name Nico Mastorakis appeared as director/producer on the opening credits my interest suddenly perked up (he made the infamous, one time "video nasty" Island of Death). I found this is to be reasonable attempt at making a giallo style psycho thriller. There's some good camera work going on during some of the more suspenseful sequences. Plenty of female topless nudity, including Kirstie Alley doing apparently her only ever topless on camera scene, though that's hardly a recommendation! Pretty tame in the gore department, only two onscreen kills, both bloody but brief. As already mentioned the computer graphics look very dated - even for 1984 - but it only adds to it's charm.

An average thriller about a stalker who goes blind after hitting his head on a tree while being chased by an angry boyfriend. He gets implanted with a chip that lets him see in vague computer graphic outline. Meanwhile a killer is experimenting on female victims. This film is nothing that special except for geeks, which should see it because it has Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: TNG's Diana Troy) topless in it. Oh and Kristie Alley has a nude love scene in it as well, but I'm not too fond of her.

Omega DVD extras: The films of Nico Mastorakis:part one-From the beginning to "Sky High" (for parts 2 and 3 you have to get 2 more of Nico's films..greedy bastard) ; 2 Music tracks; Filmographies; Bios; Theatrical trailer; Trailers for "In the Cold of the Night", "Sky High", "Bloodstone", and ".dot com for Murder"

My Grade: C-

I will not use the genre "THRILLER" to portray this film as in my humble opinion just because writer/director Nico Mastorakis who is one of the most highly successful Greek film and television producers penned Blind Date, it left me feeling cheated. Why you may ask?

Well... from the opening credits where there are a few dark and blurry scenes the audience witnesses a serial killer using a magic marker to outline on his first two female victims chests where he is about to use a sharp scalpel to cut them open, the less than scary musical score which Nico Mastorakis's uses is present throughout this very dull film.

I will say the science fiction approach to solve who the serial killer was something I have not seen in any other film. The lead actor Joseph Bottoms who plays Jonathon Ratcliff, a successful promotional executive is caught peeping on what he thinks is his first love and her new beau until the new beau named Dave (played by good looking James Daughton) gives chase in the middle of the night and as hilarious as it may seem, our star actor Jonathon Ractcliff runs smack dab into a low hanging tree limb and wakes up totally blind. Here is where the science fiction theme comes into play, a successful surgeon named Dr. Steiger (Keir Dullea) suggests he can help the recently blinded Jonathon Ratcliff using a combination or radiation surgery and a magnetic implant on his brain so that when he uses a prototype Sony Walkman (remember this film was made in 1984 and Sony was on the leading edge of the film and music industries technology boom) on the outer edge of Jonathon's skull he will be able to see 3-D animated outline images of what the rest of the world sees.

And so equipped with his new Sony Walkman seeing eye technology and a creative host of animators the film moves on to allow our star Jonathon Ratcliff to help save his first love once more from possibly falling as the next victim of this mad serial killer whose modus operando is to capture his female victims, then outline using a magic marker on their bare chests where he then intends to make his incision with his sharp scalpel while the directors irritating musical score sorely fails at keeping us the audience in suspense.

I won't spoil the ending for anyone since from the opening scene the film left me wondering if this film would be worth continuing to watch. I give the film a 4 out of 10 rating mainly for the unique use of the cutting edge sight seeing technology that Dr. Steiger used on his patient Jonathon Ratcliff which was the only interesting part of the story.

Blind Date is a unique giallo flick with a decent amount of substance. It follows the story of Johnathan Ratcliff whose life is changed dramatically when he loses his sight in an accident, but he's lucky that an experimental sonar device has been created which when installed restores their sight. He agrees and becomes the first to try this new technology. This happens while around the city an un-named killer armed with a surgical scalpel murders beautiful women.

This is probably the best out of the work I've seen from Nico Mastorakis, his direction and camera work is very polished on this film. The killings are very tame and the visual effects for John's point of view are dated by today standards, but those aspects don't take away from the film. The Hitchcock styled story with a mix of Sci-Fi is excellent and where the movie shines. The performances from the actors in this flick aren't the most memorable but, some acting is bad from the minor characters however the leads serve their roles and do a good job. I found myself losing interest in the film at some moments but it would quickly draw me back in.

You could do a lot worse when picking an 80's horror thriller, especially considering it's currently free with prime. So I'd recommend this flick if you enjoy B-movies of this style.

Blind Date tells the story of Jonathon Radcliffe, who on recovering from an accident that left him without sight, finds himself an integral part in the mystery of a series of grisly murders in Athens.

Nico Mastorakis is one of the best cult film makers of the eighties, and its for movies like this that show why.

A brilliantly subtle Hitchcokian idea, but better, it is full of interesting scenes, if not suspenseful moments. The acting is good but is brought down by the performances of the killer's targets.

Not for everyone, but a real overlooked classic.

I only want to know what happened to the proposed sequel promised at the end, that says Jonathon Radcliffe will return in 'Run, Stumble and Fall.'